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The Democratic Attorney General and Republican Governor of Nevada have dropped their defense of their state’s 2002 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. The two top state officials had been defending the ban in federal district court, but last night came to the conclusion that “this case is no longer defensible in court”,” and, “the legal landscape has since changed.” Since when? November 2012, when a federal district court first decided Nevada’s ban was not constitutional.
“After thoughtful review and analysis, the State has determined that its arguments grounded upon equal protection and due process are no longer sustainable,†Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (image) said in a statement, with the support of Governor Brian Sandoval, according to Buzzfeed.
Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner adds that if the plaintiffs — eight same-sex couples opposing the ban on same-sex marriage — “win at the 9th Circuit, however — as the Nevada officials now appear to believe will happen — then the situation could become more complicated.”
If none of the government officials, unwilling to defend the law now, would be willing to seek to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, then it would appear to set up a situation similar to that which happened in the case challenging California’s Proposition 8 where the Supreme Court held that an outside group who backed an amendment does not have standing to seek an appeal.
Lambda Legal is representing the eight same-sex couples. If they lose, the case could go to the Supreme court, but it’s unclear an outside group supporting the ban would be granted standing. However, if Lambda Legal wins, which is likely, the case cannot move to the Supreme Court. That will not make same-sex marriage there legal, but will remove an obstacle. Currently, the state legislature is working to make marriage equality the law of the land, but same-sex couple would still need to wait until at least 2016 to marry, if not beyond.